Sleuth Bears bassist Ken Hall has a backup plan in case his music career doesn’t work out for him.

“I collect stamps. I have a large collection of stamps — it’s my retirement fund.”

The band, mostly comprised of Queen’s students, recently released their second EP called Dredging Blue and Lochhead said it’s a bit of a departure from their first EP.

“This one is about departing and then coming back, and not just staying stuck somewhere. It’s about exploration and new frontiers,” guitarist Neven Lochhead, ArtSci ’13, said.

The constantly changing population of Kingston was also discussed in the new album.

“As a university town, Kingston can be a bit of a pit stop for some people,” he said. “Students come and stay for four years, and then move on to other things.” This idea of seeing Kingston as an impermanent place for many serves as their inspiration.

The release, which is a five-song EP, sticks with the band’s grungy but melodic sound.

“This EP seems more wet in that there’s more texture, and we work on layering the guitar tones — basically I’m saying I bought a guitar pedal.”

As a hometown band, Lochhead said the group likes to stay relevant by playing shows once a month.

“I think we do pretty well with our schedules. Local bands should be wary of playing too much because you lose momentum in your home town,” he said.

Lochhead recalled one experience the band had playing a gig in Montreal earlier this year.

“Instead of just seeing the guys to do a show or a practice, it was just a little weird to live with the band. We all slept in a tiny room with nothing in it — sheer agony.”

When commenting, be considerate and respectful of writers and fellow commenters. Try to stay on topic. Spam and comments that are hateful or discriminatory will be deleted. Our full commenting policy can be read here.